It is rumored that several decades ago, a Harvard professor opined that the world would never need more than three or four computers. In contrast to this legendary lack of foresight, an overwhelming majority of businesses and homes utilize personal computers and computer networks privately for word processing and computational and database support. However, computer use has not expanded as quickly into arenas where the general public uses them. Generally, computer systems have lacked the versatility, durability, and reparability for wide spread use by the general public.
Computers have been utilized in public facilities such as libraries for many years where individuals from the general public use the computers for very limited purposes and the presence of food and drink is restricted. Computers have also been used in restaurants, bars, and other venues to provide limited entertainment. By limiting the number and complexity of controls and enclosing the components of the computers in single housings, such as an inlay table or conventional standup arcade housing, these devices have proven sufficiently durable for the general public to use. However, it is generally necessary to remove the entire computer and housing from the venue in order to perform significant repairs.
Typically, entertainment is provided in the form of a jukebox, which only plays music, or it is provided in the form of a single game device, on which a user plays a single video game. Recently, some game devices have been enhanced to provide multiple game selections. The multiple player features of these video games, with the exception of recently introduced trivia games, are not capable of interactive play between two different players on different computers. Typically, each competing player takes turns or they play on a single computer having multiple sets of controls.
The recent proliferation of the Internet has led to a small increase of installations in libraries and other public forums such as coffee shops allowing individuals to conduct on-line research or browse while enjoying a cup of coffee. However, even with the dramatic increases in computer processor speed and memory capacity, which have significantly enhanced the computer's capability to support media applications such as videos, music, and interactive gaming, no computer network has provided sufficient versatility and adaptability for wide spread deployment in public venues such as bars, restaurants, hotels, and airports. While pay-per-view and opt-in satellite channels have started to deliver more content options, they have not utilized the web or created an avenue for easily uploading original content from client locations
In these environments, customer interests and time variables for example, change dramatically from one venue to another and from one user to another. Current networks in these environments are custom designed for each specific venue and lack the ability to adapt to different customer interests and desires and generally lack the ability to provide more than one type of media at a time. Further the screen displays or graphical user interfaces (GUI's) for these applications are difficult to change. When a change is desired, the new GUI must be programmed and stored locally on the computer terminals of the network. Other solutions utilize Internet resources and link to customized web sites created and sponsored by the venue owner. These web-based implementations use standard browser technology utilizing the entire screen for the browser and thus fail to provide a true multimedia solution.
For years, single-purpose computer platforms or kiosk systems have been displaying information to public environments. Initially, these systems featured hard-coded presentation applications, which ran in a perpetual loop on the system. The user's options were limited to pre-programmed functions and/or paths through the content provided. More recently, some of these systems have included web-based components, but they have still failed to incorporate digital movie capabilities, allow for multiple application tasks within the user interface, or allow for the dynamic management of local resources.